The Bandera Bulldogs won four straight games to earn the Championship trophy at the Devine Basketball Tournament played Dec. 13 - 15 at Devine.
The Bulldogs started the tournament off on Thursday with a pair of victories, the first a 67-53 win over the Pleasanton Eagles and the second, a 46-41 decision over the tournament host Devine Warhorses. On Friday, the Bulldogs raced past Blanco 67-47 to advance to the Championship game on Saturday against the Jourdanton Indians. The Indians, however, were no match for the Bulldogs as the boys from Bandera poured it on for an 82-37 victory and first place in the Warhorse Tournament.
Against Pleasanton, the Bulldogs were led by Aaron Shackleford with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Ty Neff and Noah Nelson added 13 points each to the Bandera scoring effort.
In game 2 on Thursday, the Bulldogs overcame a 24-19 Devine lead at the half and rallied to a 46-41 victory as Neff led the way with 12 points while Shackleford added 9 points and 12 rebounds to the Bandera effort.
On Friday, the Dogs made it three straight with a 67-47 victory over Blanco. Shackleford and Blake Keller topped Bandera scorers with 19 and 12 points respectively.
In Saturdays' Champion-ship game against Jourdanton, the Bulldogs took an early 17-12 lead over the Indians after one quarter of play before racing out to a 41-25 lead at the half. In the third period, the Bulldogs erupted for 27 more points, while holding the Indians to just 2 in the quarter, to extend the Bandera lead to 68-27 with just one quarter remaining to play. From that point, the Bulldogs cruised to an 82-37 victory and the Championship of the Devine Tournament. The Bulldogs were led by Kellers' 22 points while Nelson and Neff put up 12 each and Shackleford 10 to top Bulldog scorers against Jourdanton. Cullen McGuire added 8, Richie Marier and Devon Adamson 5 each, Stevie Chesshir 4, Arick Givens 3 and Marshall Beightol 1 to round out the Bulldog scoring in the Championship game. Keller also contributed 5 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocked shots to the Bandera effort while Nelson finished with 6 blocked shots and 8 rebounds for the victorious Dogs against Jourdanton. Shackleford (7) and Adamson (6) also rebounded well for the Dogs in the final game of the tournament.